Hi all,

 

A problem showed up tonight on my Superb 4x4 170ps in that the car felt gutless through the lower rev range and shortly after the glow plug light was flashing constantly and car appeared to go into a form of limp home mode.

 

switching off and on got rid of the light, but still not pulling like it did before, and after a further few miles and putting my foot down under load the same again with flashing light and limp home.

 

car is due its next service now at 67k so will get it looked at my local Bosch garage but wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts; my immediate ones were:

 

1) glow plug(s) faulty

2) DFP needs regeneration (tried that with a 20min drive but not seemed to have started the regeneration)

3) Fuel: but ran fine on 3/4 of the current tank until now

4) blocked fuel filter

5) turbo: seems unlikely as pulls well in higher rev range

 

manual suggests engine management but intermittent nature suggests to me 1, 4 or 2 above?  seems to drive ok if you don't drive hard.

 

any thoughts welcome albeit guesswork until its plugged in and looked at (no fault language on the display at any time).

 

thanks in advance,

 

Giles

It's limp mode. Very often triggered by a problem with the boost control system. Culprits are likely to be failed MAP sensor, failed VNT actuator, stuck/sticking VNT vanes, vacuum leak, failed/failing boost control solenoid (N75 valve). You'll need a diagnostic scan to figure this out. I'd avoid driving it as much as possible until you get it checked out.

Thanks for the quick thoughts.  I am aiming to book it into my local garage (Bosch/German specialist) next week for a service.  Other option but more expensive would be go to Skoda?

 

Hopefully either glow plugs or one of the sensors as you say, as anything turbo related sounds expensive!  guess first port of call is the diagnostic read out if anything has been logged.

Glow plugs won't cause limp mode. The worst that'll happen with dead glow plugs is harder starting from cold.

I bet its the EGR valve.

Christ I hope not if well over a grand to fix.....presume a fault would be logged even if the light goes out on every start cycle?  

Took out for a spin today to see if my local specialist was open (sadly not) and now has thrown up the solid 'control system for exhaust light' and the flashing glow plug system light along with the reduced power/limp mode. 

 

Will get it booked in early next week and if diagnostic suggests EGR then may also get a quote from Skoda to compare as keep reading anything from £800-1500 for the CR170 engine cars....hopefully it'll be something simpler but I won't hold my breath!

In my eyes the 140 and 170 CR units are pretty reliable, the only thing that seems to be all too common is EGR failure.

 

What year is the car? If its been serviced at skoda and its just out of warranty I know people that have only had to pay £500 for it replacing due to a good will gesture from Skoda

Took out for a spin today to see if my local specialist was open (sadly not) and now has thrown up the solid 'control system for exhaust light' and the flashing glow plug system light along with the reduced power/limp mode. 

 

Will get it booked in early next week and if diagnostic suggests EGR then may also get a quote from Skoda to compare as keep reading anything from £800-1500 for the CR170 engine cars....hopefully it'll be something simpler but I won't hold my breath!

 

I had an apparent EGR fault on my March 2011 CR170 car about 21mths ago; the warning indicator began to come on intermittently starting in approx Nov 2014 but I don't recall there being any significant power loss coinciding with the warning (but I'm a fairly gentle driver!).  The warning indicator eventually came on more solidly so in early Jan 2015 I took the car into a local independent VAG specialist (V-Hub in Tewkesbury, Glos) and they diagnosed a fault with the EGR valve.

 

I subsequently, in early Feb 2015, had the EGR valve replaced by V-Hub; the total bill was around the £750 mark but fortunately the extended warranty I have on the car paid the majority of the bill.  However...

 

I subsequently learned, indirectly from a reliable source inside VAG, that there was a known software issue that gave rise to *apparent* EGR fault alerts - I think it was something along the lines of the permissible limits for the EGR valve's behaviour or performance being set too tightly.  I have no hard evidence to back this up but it might be worth you investigating this aspect a bit further before getting the EGR valve replaced.  I can certainly recall the guys at V-Hub telling me that there was nothing obviously wrong with the original EGR valve they'd removed from my car, although of course it's entirely possible that there was an internal fault that wasn't apparent to a visual inspection.

 

--

Martin

Thanks Martin much appreciated for the benefit of your experience.  I'll now wait to get it looked at by my local garage and if EGR is the fault get a quote from them and also Skoda with a bit of pressure on the price of the part (they still need to sort the emissions piece on the car from the software scam!).  hopefully it'll be something simpler/cheaper but good to know about the possible software issue too.

 

cheers,

 

Giles.

Hi all,

 

a quick update here which might help others in the future.

 

It was a tricky one to hunt down by my local specialist, but they ended up tracing the issue (assuming its cured long term) to a sensor which they termed as the 'boost sensor' (around £45 for the part) and the turbo boost diaphram which was apparently split/holed preventing turbo back pressure or any boost to be generated (£127 for the part).  Car drove fine on way back from the garage and under their test drive.  All in cost to sort it out was around £450 so assuming its all ok then better than it could have been. 

 

here's hoping its solved, but looks to have been a couple of parts and not the EGR or the turbo itself.....

 

cheers,

 

Giles.

Hi All!!

Looking for advice.....same issue with my skoda superb 2.0 170 2011....mechanic changed all senors but still keeps going into limp mode, was able to reset and drive for couple days and then would come back on and now comes on straight away. mechanic think could be electrical issue but by god am finding it hard for anyone to look at it.

9 hours ago, Stingray30 said:

Hi All!!

Looking for advice.....same issue with my skoda superb 2.0 170 2011....mechanic changed all senors but still keeps going into limp mode, was able to reset and drive for couple days and then would come back on and now comes on straight away. mechanic think could be electrical issue but by god am finding it hard for anyone to look at it.

What fault codes are present?

I would say Egr Unit 

On 26/02/2022 at 15:18, Urrell said:

The glow-plug light covers numerous faults, when my glow-plug failed it did not bring up that light.
Has your mechanic not plugged in a fault code reader, that should be the first thing to do.

 

13 hours ago, chimaera said:

What fault codes are present?

 

15 minutes ago, Snapper1725 said:

I would say Egr Unit 

Tried everything and my mechanic said could be a wiring issue somewhere.  Best about it now can't get anyone to look at it😔😔